NAB partners with Fishburners to foster startups – StartupSmart

National Australian Bank (NAB) is the latest company to throw its support behind Sydney co-working space Fishburners.

NAB Labs executive general partner Jonathan Davey says the partnership will help the bank innovate and stay on top of technology trends.

Earlier this year NAB announced the creation of NAB Ventures, a $50 million venture capital fund that makes strategic investments and partnerships with startups, in an attempt to encourage external innovation that improves NAB products. NAB Ventures startups get the chance to work from the bank’s innovation hub NAB Labs.

“We see the digital environment changing significantly, and much of this change is being driven by smaller companies and startups,” Davey says.

“It’s important for NAB to partner with companies that we can learn from, to help us meet evolving business needs and trends.

“Ultimately, this will help us to deliver better customer experiences.”

NAB joins the likes of Google, News Corp, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Amazon and Xero,in supporting Fishburners. The co-working space is currently home to 176 startups.

Fishburners co-founder and general manager, Murray Hurps, says NAB’s mission aligns perfectly with the co-working space’s goal to create more Australian startups.

“NAB aims to deliver the best possible experience for their customers, and is taking a refreshing and laudable approach by supporting startups who are developing these better experiences,” he says.

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